More Duke Ellington
- With two nearly Triple Plus (A++ to A+++) sides, this copy is close to the BEST we have ever heard, right up there with our Shootout Winner – exceptionally quiet vinyl too
- This original stereo Six-Eye from 1959 is one of the few copies of this famous album to hit the site in many years, and of course one of the best
- Many copies of the copies we played would get aggressive or edgy, but this one is smooth in the right way, and for that you can thank CBS’s legendary 30th St. studios
- 4 stars: “A most unusual Duke Ellington record, two selections feature nine symphonic percussionists on tympani, vibes, marimbas and xylophones.
These Nearly White Hot Stamper pressings have top quality sound that’s often surprisingly close to our White Hots, but they sell at substantial discounts to our Shootout Winners, making them a relative bargain in the world of Hot Stampers (“relative” being relative considering the prices we charge). We feel you get what you pay for here at Better Records, and if ever you don’t agree, please feel free to return the record for a full refund, no questions asked.
This is one of the most fun records Ellington ever made, and that’s saying something! You get timpani, vibes, marimbas, and xylophones, vocals from Jimmy Rushing and a guest appearance from the great Dizzy Gillespie.
This vintage Columbia Six-Eye pressing has the kind of Tubey Magical Midrange that modern records can barely BEGIN to reproduce. Folks, that sound is gone and it sure isn’t showing signs of coming back. If you love hearing INTO a recording, actually being able to “see” the performers, and feeling as if you are sitting in the studio with the band, this is the record for you. It’s what vintage all analog recordings are known for — this sound.
If you exclusively play modern repressings of vintage recordings, I can say without fear of contradiction that you have never heard this kind of sound on vinyl. Old records have it — not often, and certainly not always — but maybe one out of a hundred new records do, and those are some pretty long odds.
What amazing sides such as these have to offer is not hard to hear:
- The biggest, most immediate staging in the largest acoustic space
- The most Tubey Magic, without which you have almost nothing. CDs give you clean and clear. Only the best vintage vinyl pressings offer the kind of Tubey Magic that was on the tapes in 1959
- Tight, note-like, rich, full-bodied bass, with the correct amount of weight down low
- Natural tonality in the midrange — with all the instruments having the correct timbre
- Transparency and resolution, critical to hearing into the three-dimensional studio space
No doubt there’s more but we hope that should do for now. Playing the record is the only way to hear all of the qualities we discuss above, and playing the best pressings against a pile of other copies under rigorously controlled conditions is the only way to find a pressing that sounds as good as this one does.
The Classic Records Heavy Vinyl Pressing
We’re not the least bit embarrassed to admit we used to like their version, and happily recommended it in our catalogs back in the ’90s.
Like many Classic Records, the master tapes are so good that even with their mediocre mastering (and pressing: RTI’s vinyl accounts for at least some of the lost sound quality, so airless and tired), the record still sounds great — at least until you get hold of the real thing and can hear what you’ve been missing.
What do you get with Hot Stampers compared to the Classic Heavy Vinyl reissue?
Dramatically more richness, warmth, sweetness, delicacy, transparency, space, energy, size, naturalness (no boost on the top end or the bottom, a common failing of anything on Classic); in other words, the kind of difference you almost ALWAYS get comparing the best vintage pressings with their modern remastered counterparts. That has been our experience over the last twenty years or so anyway.
The Classic is a nice record, a Hot Stamper that sounds as good as this does is a MAGICAL one.
What We Listen For on Jazz Party
- Energy for starters. What could be more important than the life of the music?
- The Big Sound comes next — wall to wall, lots of depth, huge space, three-dimensionality, all that sort of thing.
- Then transient information — fast, clear, sharp attacks, not the smear and thickness so common to these LPs.
- Tight punchy bass — which ties in with good transient information, also the issue of frequency extension further down.
- Next: transparency — the quality that allows you to hear deep into the soundfield, showing you the space and air around all the instruments.
- Extend the top and bottom and voila, you have The Real Thing — an honest to goodness Hot Stamper.
TRACK LISTING
Side One
Malletoba Spank
Red Garter
Red Shoes
Red Carpet
Satin Doll
Side Two
U.M.M.G.
All Of Me
Tymperturbably Blue
Hello Little Girl
AMG Review
A most unusual Duke Ellington record, two selections feature nine symphonic percussionists on tympani, vibes, marimbas and xylophones. Dizzy Gillespie makes a historic appearance with Ellington’s orchestra on “U.M.M.G.” (a meeting that should have been repeated often but sadly never was), Jimmy Rushing (Count Basie’s former vocalist) sings “Hello Little Girl” and both Johnny Hodges (“All of Me”) and Paul Gonsalves (“Ready Go!”) have chances to blow.